» MAKE: NOISE — Discuss this article

Showing messages 1 through 5 of 5.

• Tried Yet?
  You must be logged in to reply.
  
  
  Has anyone tried one of these yet?
  
  I am off to get the stuff to make one...

  Posted by theandrwe on August 19, 2006 at 13:42:55 Pacific Time

• Problems With Crankshaft
  You must be logged in to reply.
  
  
  I am having trouble bending the metal rod into a crankshaft with a crank .75 inches away from the shaft, the pinchers on my vice grip are 1 inch long, any advice?

  Posted by FunkReverend on October 08, 2006 at 17:16:19 Pacific Time

• Reinserting the thumbtacks
  You must be logged in to reply.
  
  
  This has been the most difficult part of the project so far for me -- putting back the thumbtacks from the open side of the can. If you try to use your hands to do this, it's a fruitless endeavor unless you have tiny hands.
  
  Finally the way that worked the best for me was to glue the thumbtack with some relatively weak glue (a glue gun works ok) to the back of a pencil and use the pencil to guide it in. Once the thumbtack is through, you can grasp the sharp end and pull off the pencil.

  Posted by ajitq on December 05, 2006 at 16:58:47 Pacific Time

• alternative material for the air pipe?
  You must be logged in to reply.
  
  
  I notice that the material used for conveying the air back and forth between the warm and cold reservoirs is copper, which is of course highly conductive. It seems like this would reduce the efficiency of the engine by transferring heat through the metal from the hot to cold reservoir. I understand that copper might be necessary for the connection to the coffee cans, as they are soldered, but could PVC or some other insulating pipe be substituted for a portion of the path to increase thermal resistance?

  Posted by jetrull on June 17, 2007 at 19:50:25 Pacific Time

• Has Anyone Actually Gotten this to Work?
  You must be logged in to reply.
  
  
  I built it...but couldn't get it to run. I was never quite satisfied with the driveshaft, and the pulleys seemed to be too heavy for the power stroke.
  
  Ultimately, I chucked it to make room for a new project. It looked nice, though.

  Posted by FeynmanFan on January 20, 2010 at 09:48:56 Pacific Time